I caught this article on Greener Buildings and it has got me thinking again about this marvelous material.
Not long ago I was on the fence about concrete. I think a lot of people see concrete as a cold and hard material so therefore not very "green". Then there's the issue of embodied energy, or the energy that it takes to make and transport the product.
Concrete just doesn't have the warmth and natural feeling of wood, brick or a lot of other building materials. But then it also isn't a source of food for mold which is essentially a plague on buildings here in the Southeast. It also can provide a pretty air tight envelope quite easily, which can mean better air quality indoors as part of a complete well designed system.
Plus, it's fire proof, pest proof and super strong.This means as a home owner you'll save money on insurance and pest protection year after year. Not to mention that a concrete building will likely far outlast stick built homes even if you don't have hurricanes, tornadoes or other disasters that will demolish the typical home.
We offer insulated concrete forms, or ICFs, which is a great way to achieve a quick build, good insulation and all of the great properties of concrete. And we also offer E-Wall which is perhaps my favorite build system now. E-Wall is a hybrid of structural insulated panels, SIPs, and ICFs. It's a panelized system that is assembled quickly on site then filled with a concrete pour to produce a solid monolithic wall.
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